The APQC Blog
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Better Measurement: The Knowledge Worker Pickle
APQC’s founder, Jack Grayson, believed that true productivity encompasses both effectiveness and efficiency: “Efficiency measures if you are doing things right. Effectiveness concerns itself with whether you are doing the right things.” We have spent decades focusing on one half of the…
Answer These Questions Now for a Post-pandemic Productivity Boost
The pandemic made heroes out of KM programs that had the three “P”s in place before the shutdown: Processes to manage content, share knowledge, and collaborate People embedded in the business to rally and support remote work Platforms to enable content management, search, and…
What Are the Biggest Barriers to Knowledge Management?
A knowledge management effort can fail for countless reasons, but the breakdown usually starts with a “people problem.” According to APQC’s research, the biggest barriers that hurt knowledge management implementations are awareness, time, and culture. People either aren’t aware of the tools and…
5 Virtual Collaboration Tools You Might Not (But Should) Know
APQC’s research on virtual collaboration shows that the biggest challenges are about people and processes—not the technology itself. That said, there are some really innovative and useful virtual collaboration tools out there. To get a pulse on the latest tech toys (and of much more, of course), I…
How Do You Keep Hybrid Virtual Meetings Engaging?
Employees have been complaining about painful and pointless meetings for decades. Now that most of us are engaging in hybrid virtual meetings (where some people gather in a conference room and others join in remotely), those complaints are multiplying and growing louder. Why? It’s so easy to…
It’s Time for KM to Fix Findability
Employees waste a lot of time looking for stuff. It can be hard to quantify, but most of us are aware of this uncomfortable truth. I consider myself a savvy searcher, and I spend hours each week digging around for past research insights, instructions someone shared with me, and old documents I want…
What is a Content Management Process?
A good content management process will not have long-term success without alignment to and integration in business processes and a governance that ensures accountability and adherence to processes and policies. For over 2 decades, I have engaged with APQC’s members and clients to put in…
How Early Measurement Helps Build KM Momentum
Urging a new KM team to establish baseline measures is a little like begging a toddler to finish her broccoli before digging into the chocolate cookies. When KMers first set out, they are excited to start doing things. They want to build systems, connect people, and solve problems. They are less…
3 Ideas for Better Storytelling in Knowledge Management
Storytelling is the number-one way to get people to participate in knowledge management (KM). Most of the time, you can’t force people to “do KM”—and even when you can use requirements and performance goals to make KM a must-do, that’s usually not enough. KM teams need to find and promote stories…
Escape the Sand Traps of KM Rewards and Recognition
How do you set up a rewards and recognition program for knowledge management? It's harder than it looks. That's why, despite years trying to boost adoption and engagement, only 11% of knowledge managers say their organizations are effective at motivating and incentivizing KM participants.…